Access to adequate social protection is recognized by the international community as a human and social right. It is also widely considered to be instrumental in promoting social inclusion on a broad scale, and to be conducive to and indispensable for fair growth, social cohesion and economic performance, contributing to competitiveness.

However, today, only 20 per cent of the world’s population has adequate social security coverage, and more than half lack any coverage at all. The situation reflects levels of economic development, with fewer than 10 per cent of workers in least-developed countries covered by social security. In middle-income countries, coverage ranges from 20 to 60 per cent, while in most industrial nations, it is close to 100 per cent. Social protection floors are nationally-defined sets of basic social security guarantees which secure protection aimed at preventing or alleviating poverty, vulnerability and social exclusion, in particular with regard to access to essential health care and basic income security throughout the life course.

The International Labour Conference (ILC), at its 101st session in 2012, adopted a Recommendation on national floors of social protection (No. 202). Reflecting the ILO's two-dimensional strategy for the extension of social security adopted during the ILC 2011, the Recommendation provides guidance to Member States to establish and maintain social protection floors as a fundamental element of their national social security systems, and to implement these floors within strategies for the extension of social security that progressively ensure higher levels of social security to as many people as possible, guided by ILO social security standards.

In order to build greater support with UN Member States and move forward with the development and establishment of social protection floors, the ILO and the UNITAR New York Office are organizing a three module seminar series on “Advancing Social Protection Floors”. The three one day seminars, which will be held in March, May and September 2013 at the UN Headquarters in New York will include expert presentations, policy dialogues and knowledge sharing exercises.

Event Objectives

The seminar series aims to:

· provide delegates with a better understanding of the structure and elements of social protection floors

· increase awareness for the need and the benefits of national floors of social protection

· understand the importance of promoting social protection floors in the multilateral system

At the end of the seminar series the delegates will:

· have gained substantial knowledge on the elements of social protection floors,

· be able to understand the effects of social protection on economic and social development,

· understand the ILO recommendation 202 on national floors of social protection,

· have acquired knowledge on how to promote the social protection floor approach in the multilateral system.

Specifically, this third and final instalment in the ILO-UNITAR training series on advancing Social Protection Floors (SPFs) will focus on the real-world implementation and sustainment of national SPFs. It will highlight the individual and diverse experience of countries that have undertaken efforts to implement components of SPFs, and include testimony from the very experts whose work led to their realization. There is a broad range of experience to be learned from countries with differing levels of industrialization, development and social protection policies. It will present the ways in which some countries are succeeding to reach the most vulnerable and help realize the right to social protection, while building sustainable systems designed to weather an uncertain economic and financial future.

Content and Structure

Module III will cover the following sessions:

Session 1: Building and sustaining national Social Protection Floors;

Session 2: Developing a national social protection strategy in Cambodia;

Session 3: Setting up a Social Protection Floor in Mozambique;

Session 4: Resolution drafting exercise.

Methodology

Participants: The Series is open to delegates of Permanent Missions to the United Nations in New York, especially to those covering Second and Third Committee issues, and to other representatives of international, intergovernmental, and non-governmental organizations.

Schedule and venue: This third module will take place on Friday 13, 2013, from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. in Conference Room D, New York, N.Y. 10016.